Friday night racing with the Cat 3 men. The pace was high. We have some horsepower that needs to upgrade to the 1/2 field soon so it keeps things interesting. I attacked and won a preme in the scratch race with three laps to go. But couldn't climb back on the fella that made the move with me and ended up getting swallowed by the field in the last lap. Had I looked around a little more, I might have been able to jump back on his wheel and brought in a top placement. Lesson learned - look around more!
The Keirin was interesting. I got a little too aggressive too early and attacked when the motor pulled with 500m to go. The field again swallowed me with 150m to go - and I ended up last. Apparently my super human sprinting and endro power wasn't turned on - and I came back to the infield discouraged, wondering what's wrong with me?! Both Kenny and Woody told me to be more patient and wait it out - let the guys do the work and race smart. At one point Woody told me to approach racing with the attitude of being a racer, not a woman in the men's field. To which I responded, that's how I always think Woody.
Then Matt came up to me and said that my attack was perfectly time and everyone was looking at one another and he said something about not chasing a chick down. Um, excuse me? Maybe you haven't noticed but I always go for the sprint and try my hardest to win time and time again only to get pipped by the guys at the line. I don't think they ever think, I shouldn't chase a chick down. You're full of shit and just got beat by a girl! How you like them apples?
(Sorry - just a little drama... but come on! He asked for it.)
The points race was hard - the majority of the field dropped out by mid way through the race. I managed one point, which placed me in 8th. I was happy with my performance but frustrated by the way the men were unwilling to work together to chase back the lead group. Oh well. Lesson learned - attack them and leave them behind if they're unwilling to work.
We got into Bellingham at 12:30am and had to get up the following morning at 6:30am for the TT at Lake Padden. I felt solid on the bike - made one wrong move by not being in the aero bars for one downhill section, but felt pretty good. I ended up 5th - not bad!
The crit was hard. It was definitely a climbers crit and technical. It had 8 corners and a really fun fast descent. Ryan's entire family showed up to cheer me on - it was fantastic! (We had a Triplett family reunion on Saturday between the races. I'm really really good at burning the candle at both ends!) Wines dominated the race with Trish and Lise off the front from the gun. With about 5 laps to go Suz hit it and secured third place. The rest of us got to race for 4th. Annette gave me a killer lead out and I delivered the goods. It felt great to have teammates working for you and to be able to deliver it back to them.
The following morning was the final day - a 40 mile road race on a hilly course. It was gorgeous out. Unfortunately we were delayed by an hour because some poor soul from Ti broke his collar bone about 300m from the finish line. Ouch. During our race the same Wines ladies took off right away and probably had 5 minutes on the field. They're in a league of their own. Nice work ladies!
The rest of us were fighting for 4th in the GC. Carrie managed 4th and the rest of the team in 10th, 11th, and 13th. It didn't go as we had planned - but oh well. I'm surprised I can walk today to be honest with you! My legs were exhausted from the weekend. Did that stop me from going to the gym this morning? Absolutely not! Nationals are coming....
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